KELLY “Highlands” Booleroo Centre, South Australia | 1875
By Kelly Aitken In Awardees On April 24, 2026
It is believed that the Kelly family were landholders on the Isle of Man, and it is not known why they chose to immigrate to South Australia. The Colony had only just been opened for settlement when the William Kellys arrived in 1838 to find a very disorganised place short of food and supplies with surveying still ongoing. Later when they became established and their circumstances improved, encouraging messages were sent home resulting in a second brother Robert and bride Mary Anne joining them in 1849. Buying a farm in the Inman Valley they prospered, with five sons and three daughters born there. On completing his education second son Angus William set out with brothers John Robert and Harry to look for land in the mid north of the state, first purchasing a property near Redhill. In November 1875 the Hundred of Booleroo was first offered for sale by the Government and with some wheeling and dealing between Angus, Harry and their father Robert, eventually Angus had a property of 1774 acres which he called ‘Highlands. Initially the farm produced oats for the horses and small crops of wheat and malt barley, straw for thatching, with most of the farm devoted to grazing merino sheep. Today Highlands has a continuous cropping rotation of wheat, barley, lentils, field peas, and canola. It has also seen the development of the Kelly Diamond Harrow, a tillage tool at the forefront of global agronomy, invented by Peter Kelly AM. Direct descendent Shane and wife Joanne Kelly farm the land today, with a particular emphasis on sustainable agriculture and the regeneration of the vestigial bushland.